Calories determine weight loss??

[Anonymous]

I keep hearing that at the end of the day, it’s just daily calories that determine if you lose weight or not.
So if I’m not losing weight with the calories I’m eating, does that simply mean I’m not in a calorie deficit?
I need to lower my caloric goal?

[Anonymous]

It’s not everything, but it’s a big part, yes.

[Anonymous]

The only way I lose weight is if I count and limit my calories. As soon as I stop counting my calories, the weight slowly creeps up. So my answer would be yes.

[Anonymous]

Yes.

[Anonymous]

There's more to it, but yes.

If you are at maintenance, i.e. not gaining weight but also not losing weight, you can always increase your exercise to burn more calories and keep the calories consistent.

When I need to lose a few pounds I add an extra 30 minutes of exercise per day and I lose a pound approximately every 2 weeks as long as I don't eat more.

[Anonymous]

Yes

Do you know how many calories you consume per day?

How much do you weigh & what is your age / gender?

[Anonymous]

It’s not everything. And knowing your history and what you’re eating would impact what you need to change to lose weight, as will your current weight and fat percentage — which might well be “normal” ( and hopefully also healthy) for your body.

So, yeah, at some point decreasing calories will lead to weight loss, but it could also lead to health issues as well.

[Anonymous]

It's not just calories. It's more complicated than that - hormones and insulin resistance, along with current muscle mass vs fat % of your body, and also your gender and your age play a more than significant roles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not everything. And knowing your history and what you’re eating would impact what you need to change to lose weight, as will your current weight and fat percentage — which might well be “normal” ( and hopefully also healthy) for your body.

So, yeah, at some point decreasing calories will lead to weight loss, but it could also lead to health issues as well.

It is everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not everything. And knowing your history and what you’re eating would impact what you need to change to lose weight, as will your current weight and fat percentage — which might well be “normal” ( and hopefully also healthy) for your body.

So, yeah, at some point decreasing calories will lead to weight loss, but it could also lead to health issues as well.

It is everything.

Agree. It is nearly everything. But you need to weigh yourself frequently to see how your body responds to particular calorie counts and foods over time and then adjust intake according to your goals

[Anonymous]

If that was everything, it would be so easy to lose weight. I’ve read people on here who are middle aged, losing weight in 2,000 calories a day. I am not middle aged, eat 1500 precisely and obsessively measured calories, and struggle to drop a single one of my 35 extra pounds some weeks. Other weeks I’ll say forget it, I don’t have time, eat 2,000 or more calories every day and stay the exact same weight. Calories are everything right? This shouldn’t be possible, right? I must be cheating, right? Nope, just started off life fat and a jacked up metabolism is what I have left.

[Anonymous]

It’s calories in and body composition in terms of fat to muscle ratio. You can work on both of those at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep hearing that at the end of the day, it’s just daily calories that determine if you lose weight or not.
So if I’m not losing weight with the calories I’m eating, does that simply mean I’m not in a calorie deficit?
I need to lower my caloric goal?

Yup but a few things to consider before lowering calories.

1. How long have you been at this? If you have tried being in a deficit for less than a month then, no do not lower your calories.

2. Are you REALLY hitting your calorie target. That is are you weighting and measuring food or just eyeballing it? You would be shocked how calories can sneak in.

3. How consistent have you really been? If you are not honestly hitting your calories at least 80% and ideally 90% of the MONTH, that is not going over your calorie target more than 2-3 times a MONTH. They you have not really given it a fait chance. You should absolutely track your consistency on a calendar. This it also pretty eye opening because so many people do great M-F but go over every weekend. Also being 70% consistent can feel really hard and like you are working hard when in realty it is not where you need to be to actually lose weight.

4. Is your calorie target realistic? So many aim for really low targets, struggle to stay there consistently, and end up overeating more than they admit. You are better off with a higher target than a crazy low one that leads to overeating multiple times a week.

[Anonymous]

To add to what I (8:35) said above and reiterate the point... weigh loss takes time. Calories should only be adjusted at most on a monthly basis. you should not adjust calories based on a single data point or spike on the scale.

Also weighing yourself daily and tracking the trend over the course of a month is a better way to determine if you are losing vs just weighing once a week. This is because weight fluctuates and these fluctuations don't matter as much as the overall trend.

[Anonymous]

How your body metabolizes those calories is going to matter as well.